Pembroke Pines Charter Advances To District 6A-15 Championship

Analysts believe that one of the toughest thing to do in sports is to beat another team three times in one year. That was the challenge facing Pembroke Pines Charter Tuesday afternoon in their District 6A-15 semifinal game with Fort Lauderdale.

The Jaguars responded to the challenge with a 5-3 win, sending them into the district championship game against Archbishop McArthy Thursday night.

Alejandro Kan was given the task of taking the mound for the Jags, and he did what he has done several times before this season, kept his team in the game until the offense could get going. Kan went five strong innings for PP Charter, allowing no earned runs, while striking out five.

“Alejandro is a fighter,” said Jaguars head coach Carlos Iglesias. “Whenever he goes out to the mound, you know something good is going to happen. Today he battled, and he gave us five strong innings.”

Fort Lauderdale starter Brad Smith was equally up for the challenge. Smith gave up only one unearned run in the first three innings. In the fourth, two more unearned runs came across the plate, giving PP Charter a 3-0 lead. the inning was keyed by back-to-back singles from Kevin Daly and Carlos Lopez Jr.

In the fifth, a sacrifice fly by Jake Jacobs made the score 4-2, and Lopez struck again with his third RBI of the day when he launched a home run to left-center.

“We’ve faced him (Smith) a couple of times already, so I knew he throws a lot of hard junk,” said Lopez. “So I had to just be patient and wait for a pitch to hit, and he gave me a couple today.”

Fort Lauderdale, as it has become known to do, battled right until the final out. In the seventh and with a four-run deficit, the Flying L’s mounted a rally with consecutive two-out walks to Jason Jeffrey and Brandon Rodriguez. Enrique Rodriguez followed with a two-run double to left, bringing the tying run to the plate. The Jaguars finally got the final out on a ground ball to second, and the 5-3 victory was secured.

“Our guys do a pretty good job of battling, and they showed that again today,” said Flying L’s head coach Terry Portice. “I gave them a little quote before the game on how ‘It’s hard to beat a team that never gives up’, and I think we showed a little bit of that today. We showed a little character…my message to them will be positive after this one, and we’ll regroup and come back stronger next season.”

The Jaguars assured themselves of a regional appearance with the win, but it was clear that their focus is on winning a district championship.

“We want to win a district title,” said Lopez.

His coach echoed the same sentiment.

“The way we’ve been preparing this year is always for only our next game. We had a great practice yesterday in preparation for this game, and it paid off,” said Iglesias. “Now, our focus will go towards preparing for the district championship, and not worry about anything after that.”

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